movie reviews…mostly

Batmite presents: Batman’s Strangest Cases! (2011)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold is in it’s third, and unfortunately final, season. I hate to see it come to an end. It’s been a fun ride.

If you haven’t seen it, producer’s James Tucker and Michael Jelenic have done something radical: They made Batman fun.

When I was a kid, Batman didn’t brood. He wasn’t psychotic. He wasn’t a tortured avenger.

He went on adventures with Dick!

I’m old and so I have a very soft spot for Silver Age of comic books. This cartoon is a love letter to that era of comic book storytelling, where the villains were outrageous and the plots were ludicrous.

I know Bob Kane’s original conception of Batman was fairly dark and that Frank Miller redeemed the character with his seminal work “The Dark Knight Returns.” I get all that.

But I used to have a talking Batman alarm clock that would wake me up in the morning. And that Batman wasn’t menacing. He wanted me to get up so we could go on an adventure. With Dick!

In “Batmite presents: Batman’s Strangest Cases!,” (written by the great Paul Dini) the imp from the fifth dimension is the ultimate fanboy guide through three different Batman stories. The episode is a tongue-and-cheek satire of some of the stranger versions of Batman that have existed over the years, but also recognition that an iconic character like Batman can take some wild and unexpected re-tooling and still be successful and entertaining. In other words, I think this is Batman: The Brave and the Bold’s response to criticism that their Batman is not dark, and therefore somehow not legitimate.

The opening story is a nearly panel-for-panel re-telling of an old Mad Magazine Batman spoof. I was a huge Mad Magazine fan back in the day, and I remember this story. I was fun to see it animated.

Next was a Japanese Anime version of Batman and Robin. I kind of missed the boat on Anime (Speed Racer is about the beginning and end of my knowledge), but I recognize there’s some amazing work out there, and I’m going to get around to seeing it.

Finally, and best of all, Batman and Robin team up with Scooby-Doo and Mystery, Inc. to solve a mystery at a Weird Al concert. This was a perfect homage to the Scooby-Doo team-ups of the late 70s, early 80s. I loved these shows as a kid, and they did a brilliant job, right down to the sloppy cell painting (pointed out by Bat Mite) where they color Batman’s neck wrong or reverse the colors on his logo.

And if that weren’t enough, Bat Mite grants every 10-year-old’s dream of allowing Scooby and Shaggy to beat the crap out of the bad guys — in this case the Joker and Penguin. I’ve always wanted to see Shaggy punch a guy in the face. Another dream fulfilled.

When they inevitably release a full series DVD box set of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, I’ll be adding it to the collection. It’s one of those rare shows that works for kids with plenty of Easter Eggs and winks to the fanboys to keep us happy.